"French riot policemen protect a McDonald's restaurant in downtown Strasbourg, eastern France, Saturday, March 22, 2003. Demonstrators threw fake blood and pieces of meat against the window of the fast-food restaurant to protest against the U.S.-led war in Iraq. (AP Photo/Christian Lutz)"

It is perhaps somewhat less than comforting to note that this bomb has been out of warranty for nine years:

"A GBU-24 'Bunker Buster' Hard Target Penatrator 2,000 lb bomb rests in a bomb cradle in the Hanger bay aboard the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk in the Gulf, Saturday March 22, 2003. Planes from the carrier flew 100 missions in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom Friday with 35 being strike missions. None of the 35 strike missions dropped ordinance. Sticker on the guidance portion reads 'this item is under warranty until the last day of 6-94'. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)"

Pakistani Police stand guard outside a McDonald's restaurant March 20 in Lahore to prevent reprisals against U.S. interests. (from CNN). Note Ronald himself happily waving to us behind the security cordon.

I think these protesters are missing the great power of fast food to contribute to international understanding. Why, just last month McDonald's launched the McArabia.

True, but I believe that like all good lies, the news we receive will sometimes be based on a kernel of fact, but that the two culture's respective media will ignore the facts that contradict it's own position. I still think it would be interesting to view the opposite perspective. But thanks for the time anyway.

Why is it less than comforting? My car is out of warranty. I drive it every day, and the proper functioning of my car is certainly more important than the proper function of a bomb. One keeps me a live, the other...

Suppose the bomb doesn't work. Umm... okay so what? I'd rather see us expend out-of-warranty munitions in the hope that some of them will work (and likely all of them will - munitions aren't milk - they don't spoil) and we'll get our money out of them, than just destroy them. Would you rather we bought more to replace them? It's not like a malfunction is going to cause the bomb to do anything worse than *gasp* blow up. Oh wait, that's what the bomb is supposed to do.

I'm more confused by the idea that these things have warranties at all.

If you drop it on a target [while it's under warranty] and it doesn't go off, are we supposed to dig it out of the rubble once the war is over, put it back in a crate, and RMA it to Raytheon (or whoever makes this particular ordinance)?. Or if it happens to blow itself up while sitting on the shelf, is there a "return the unused portion for a full refund" statement on the box?

The GPU-24 is a "smart bomb", so it has a fair amount of electronics on it for guidance. Munitions like this are more advanced than a pack of fireworks you buy and then throw in your junk drawer to save for New Year's. Crew members test and maintain the electronics and mechanical components in weapons like this on a regular basis. When a GPS futzes out or a mounting mechanism breaks, they can bug Raytheon or whoever for a free part, as opposed to having to buy one or retrofit something else that's laying around. So in that sense, it works like the 5 year/50,000 mile warranty on your new car - when the water pump breaks, the dealer shells out the cash instead of you. The warranty probably doesn't cover duds or inaccuracy on targets or anything like that.

FYI a GPU-24 cost about $55,000 when bought back in 1983. They were retrofitting many of them to be used with GPS as opposed to laser-guided systems.